The Definite Article

#11: self-feeding pancake

Download MP3 [http://bit.ly/J8ZDPp] Robin & Justin talk about what a good community can do for your creativity, and why it can be more meaningful to build your own community from scratch. Hackerspaces, social service houses, collectives, and our own little startups can all play a role in inspiring us to do better work. And even treehouses. Matriarchal treehouses. Dot treehouse dot mom. Most importantly: pancake shall never kill pancake. Get at us on Twitter at @DefiniteA [http://www.twitter.com/definitea]. Subscribe to us on iTunes [http://bit.ly/15NhRvo], subscribe to the RSS feed [http://feeds.feedburner.com/definitearticle], or visit the show at hoosteen.net/tda [http://www.hoosteen.net/tda]. Show Notes [http://ih0.redbubble.net/image.10525187.0987/sticker,375x360.u1.png] Voices of the 99% [www.vof99.org] This is a thing Justin spends lots of his time on. Washington Peace Center Activist Award Honorees 2013: Voices of the 99% [http://washingtonpeacecenter.org/2013awardees#Vo99] The Voices of the 99% radio station started at Occupy DC in 2011 with the intention of covering resistance movements worldwide. Their current shows use round-table discussions, critique of ongoing news debates, and interviews to raise the public consciousness. Courage Is A Muscle--Build It [http://hoosteen.net/hoosblog/2013/04/10/courage-is-a-muscle-build-it] This is a blog post about Justin's old friend Max, whose confidence used to terrify Justin. Creating the Medici Effect [http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4376.html] A new book looks at creativity at the intersections of fields, disciplines, and cultures. An excerpt from The Medici Effect explores the far-flung food ideas of chef Marcus Samuelsson. TXRX [http://txrxlabs.org] TX/RX Labs is a non-profit organization that provides a makerspace for the greater Houston area. Benton House [http://bentonhouse.org/] Benton House is a neighborhood social service agency, continuing the heritage of the settlement house movement. Our purpose is to enrich the quality of life of both individual residents and the neighborhood as a whole. The Lamont Street Collective [https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Lamont-Street-Collective/167388333305144] This is the house where Justin lives. Parkinson's Law [http://www.economist.com/node/14116121] Throwback clip yall. The Descendants: Milo Goes To College [http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/JytO0DFxzis/hqdefault.jpg?format=1000w]

10: stalin on a fixee

This week Robin & Justin return from a long hiatus to talk about sustainable creativity. How do you keep doing the work you love when nobody wants to pay you unless your article has gifs? What keeps us going when the well runs dry? Is "loving it" enough? Robin tries to figure out whether making your work into work is a problem, her dog has opinions about Tchaikovsky's vocabulary, and Justin gets lost in a long metaphor about bowling bumpers that he promises to clear up next week. Show Notes [http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/173/c/c/young_stalin_tattooed_by_iseldelth-d6a8wfv.jpg] When People Write for Free, Who Pays? [http://gawker.com/5989280/when-people-write-for-free-who-pays] @ Gawker That Cord Jefferson is a pretty good writer. He should get a raise. A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist [http://natethayer.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-freelance-journalist-2013/] It's hard to do what you do when you don't get paid. Tchaikovsky On The Paradox of Patronage [http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/08/24/tchaikovsky-on-the-paradox-of-patronage/] Sometimes getting paid makes your work less honest... The Letters of Ernest Hemingway Volume 2 [http://www.amazon.com/The-Letters-Ernest-Hemingway-1923-1925/dp/0521897343/?tag=braipick-20] ...but maybe sometimes it's the reason you make good work.

#9: advanced tactical turkey

This week Justin & Robin dig into creative heroes. Do we put too much expectation on creative greats who are just as screwed up as the rest of us? We try to figure out how to avoid the lifestyle approximation problem, remember that a cape & red underpants don't make you Superman, and resist the romance of our heroes bad habits. Plus the most important question we've ever asked: if you put Wild Turkey into a turkey, do you have an Advanced Tactical Turkey? Get at us on Twitter at @DefiniteA [http://www.twitter.com/definitea]. Subscribe to us on iTunes [http://bit.ly/15NhRvo], subscribe to the RSS feed [http://feeds.feedburner.com/definitearticle], or visit the show at hoosteen.net/tda [http://www.hoosteen.net/tda]. ---------------------------------------- SHOW NOTES whiskey [http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/071613/banned-ted-talks.gif] Monomyth [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth] The classic hero tale a [Joseph Campbell][1]. Heroes venture out from the mundane world into a supernatural one, achieve some kind of victory, and then return with the power to help his/her fellow human. ”The Deal We Strike With Our Heroes”* at Heroes Blog [http://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/2013/05/28/the-deal-we-strike-with-our-heroes/] “You [the hero] reflect what we want to see in ourselves. But if you reflect the reality of us as people and a society, then you’re just one of us after all. And therefore, you’re no more special than we are and you have to come down from your pedestal and stand in the muck with the rest of us.” ”The Seven Paradoxes of Heroism” [http://spsptalks.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/the-seven-paradoxes-of-heroism/] 1. The truest heroes are fictional heroes... We found that fictional heroes and villains were rated as more definitely good or bad than their real-world counterparts. How to Pack Like Nellie Bly, Pioneering Journalist [http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/02/eighty-days-nellie-bly/] Nellie Bly was a female journalist when being one was unheard of. And she was good at her job, too. She raced her friend Elizabeth Bisland around the world in eighty days, just for the story. Shape Singing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_note] Robin does a bit of this in this episode. Musette Bags [http://www.armysurplusworld.com/product.asp?ProductID=6841] The British Combat Musette Bag is a great day packs for your essentials. The smaller musette bag makes great kids backpacks. The musette bag is heavy-weight cotton canvas and has small backpack straps. The musette bag styled after the British Combat Musette. Stephen King on Alcoholism & Returning to the Shining @ The Guardian [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/21/stephen-king-shining-sequel-interview] Promethea by Alan Moore [http://www.amazon.com/Promethea-Book-1-Alan-Moore/dp/1563896672] Sophie Bangs was a just an ordinary college student in a weirdly futuristic New York when a simple assignment changed her life forever. While researching Promethea, a mythical warrior woman, Sophie receives a cryptic warning to cease her investigations. Ignoring the cautionary notice, she continues her studies and is almost killed by a shadowy creature when she learns the secret of Promethea. Days of War, Nights of Love: Rimbaud's Deathbed Conversion [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Days_of_War,_Nights_of_Love/92] Rimbaud knew better than to save any of himself for the grave; he spent every resource he had in this world down to the last penny—burned money, health, friends, family, sanity as so much fuel for the fire—so when Death came to take him away He got nothing, not even a man with his pride or common sense intact. His life still stands as an example to all of us. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Creative Reuse of Turkey [http://flavorwire.com/278899/f-scott-fitzgeralds-odd-tips-for-using-leftover-turkey] "Take the remnants, or, if they have been consumed, take the various plates on which the turkey or its parts have rested and stew them for two hours in milk of magnesia. Stuff with moth-balls."

#7: amish quilts and goat rodeos

This week, Justin and Robin chat with Mike Rohde, sketchnoter extroidinaire and author of The Sketchnote Handbook [http://www.peachpit.com/store/sketchnote-handbook-the-illustrated-guide-to-visual-9780321885111]. We talk about why visual note-taking is a superior tool for learning and remembering even for those who don't consider themselves visual learners. Mike lays out how sketchnotes can help you think, Robin mostly talks about graphic novels that she likes, and Justin considers the true meaning of goat rodeos. Get at us on Twitter at @DefiniteA [http://www.twitter.com/definitea]. Subscribe to us on iTunes [http://bit.ly/15NhRvo], subscribe to the RSS feed [http://feeds.feedburner.com/definitearticle], or visit the show at hoosteen.net/tda [http://www.hoosteen.net/tda]. ---------------------------------------- SHOW NOTES Mike Rohde @ Rohdesign [http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3762/9253329771_872efac161_z.jpg] Rohdesign [http://rohdesign.com/] Mike's website, which contains his weblog (or blog), his sketchnotes, and protips about design and becmong a sketchnote master. The Sketchnote Army [http://sketchnotearmy.com/] Sketchnotes from around the world! The growing group of sketchnoters put their work up on the site for others to see and learn from. It doesn't take long to appreciate that everyone has their own unique style of sketchnoting that works best for them. Sketching: The Visual Thinking Power Tool [http://alistapart.com/article/sketching-the-visual-thinking-power-tool] @ A List Apart A thorough how-to and why-to of sketchnoting. If you're looking for somewhere to begin your sketchnoting adventures, this is a good place for it. The Sketchnote Handbook [http://www.peachpit.com/store/sketchnote-handbook-the-illustrated-guide-to-visual-9780321885111] Mike's 2012 book about the art and practice of sketchnoting. In the same way that physical note-taking does a better job of making facts stick in your head, reading physical books is better than reading on screens. It just is. Multiple scientific studies say that Robin really thinks so. #WeirdSentencesFromConferenceCalls [http://web.stagram.com/tag/weirdsentencesfromconferencecalls/] Justin's short-lived series of decontextualized things he hears on conference calls. Feynman [http://www.amazon.com/Feynman-Jim-Ottaviani/dp/1596438274] by Jim Ottaviani & Leland Myrick A graphic novel about famous Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. Surprise: he was an awesome dude. Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth [http://www.logicomix.com/en/] Another graphic novel about a famous scholar guy: Bertrand Russell. Philosopher, mathematician, activist, and Robin's biggest historical crush ever. Seriously. This guy loves math so much. Guy Delisle's travel graphic novels [http://www.guydelisle.com/english/index_en.html] Guy Delisle makes graphic novels of different places he's travelled to. He's like a very frank travel journalist who isn't trying to sell you anything. Bullet Journals [http://www.bulletjournal.com/] Another brilliant note-taking system, focused on keeping you productive, not busy. Window of Time [http://rohdesign.com/weblog/2013/7/24/window-of-time.html] A short but thoughtful piece by Mike about our time on this earth, and why you shouldn't worry about how brief it is. #WeirdSentecesFromConferenceCalls [http://distilleryimage3.s3.amazonaws.com/5d526d329bc211e2a73f22000a9e28ad_7.jpg]

#6: you gotta leave the library

This week, Justin and Robin ostensibly talk about learning. There is some banter about Battlestar Galactica that we level-headedly refrain from turning the entire show into, and then we talk some about why learning gets mistaken for schooling, and how not to be noisily average. As always, you can find us on iTunes [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-definite-article/id677967879?mt=2], or subscribe to the RSS feed [http://feeds.feedburner.com/definitearticle], if that's your style. Follow us on Twitter at @DefiniteA [https://twitter.com/DefiniteA] to read delightfully digestible summaries of each episode as they air. ---------------------------------------- SHOW NOTES Deschooling Society [http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Illich/Deschooling/intro.html] by Ivan Illich A book that challenges a lot of deeply held beliefs about schools and institutions in general. Illich suggests that our ideas of what education really is are so influenced by what schools tell us it is that we don't believe we can find any true education outside of schoolroom doors. The institutionalization of society renders individual accomplishment so suspect that those who deviate from the educational norm are considered uneducated. Rhyme's Reason [http://www.amazon.com/Rhymes-Reason-Guide-English-Verse/dp/0300088329] by John Hollander In his classic text Rhyme's Reason the distinguished poet and critic John Hollander surveys the schemes, patterns, and forms of English verse, illustrating each variation with an original and witty self-descriptive example. Mario Savio Speech in Battlestar Galactica [http://www.jkenfisher.com/comparisons/battlestar-galactica-mario-savios-put-your-bodies-upon-the-gears-speech-in-battlestar-galactica.html] Comparing Mario Savio's famous 1964 Berkeley speech with Galen Tyrol's pro-strike speech from the 2006 Battlestar Galactica episode "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II" Where Should I Go to College? [http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/where-should-i-go-to-college/278731/] by Mark Edmundson A critique of the modern state of the American university and high school. Edmundson describes two opposing kinds of university - the corporate city and the scholarly enclave. Neither of them exists in their pure forms, but there are varying amounts of each element in every school. Although it certainly is "not about what you know, but who you know," perhaps it's still important to, like, read books and stuff. Bring on the learning revolution! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I] by Ken Robinson Ken Robinson has over a dozen TED talks about education, but this one particularly sticks out. He talks about how standardized education prevents students from unearthing their true talents, and why we need to stop ignoring that. "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by WB Yeats [http://www.bartleby.com/146/36.html] "Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams." The UnCollege Manifesto [http://www.uncollege.org/manifesto/] by Dale Stephens In which Dale Stephens, the founder of UnCollege [uncollege.org], lays out his beliefs about college and why it's not only not necessary to be successful, but is a veritable breeding ground for normalcy and mediocrity. Grad School - ART THOUGHTZ [http://youtu.be/p2-5kYWrp8A] by Hennessy Youngman "But why take out loans and enter into massive debt just so you’ll be able to hold up your end of a conversation at a creative time benefit? You know? That makes no sense, internet. But for $4.99, plus shipping and handling, I definitely think it’s worth it." [http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/p2-5kYWrp8A/hqdefault.jpg?format=1000w]